Cinema: For the Birds

Those Galloways, as depicted by Walt Disney's elfin helpers, demonstrate
conclusively that not every rural New England community is a Peyton
Place. These Galloways are wholesome folks, and their struggles to
provide a sanctuary for migratory geese make the high-flying fancies of
Disney's Mary Poppins seem quite worldly, if not downright cynical.

Up in Vermont, Ma Calloway (Vera Miles) yearns for "a house with real
snap-on lights." Pa (Brian Keith) and Son Bucky (Brandon deWilde) seem
content with a cabin in the pines, where their pet bear can hibernate
under the floor boards. The...